


Glacier

by Peregrine_Took



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Angst, Damn, like a lot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-19
Updated: 2016-04-19
Packaged: 2018-06-03 04:06:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6595954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peregrine_Took/pseuds/Peregrine_Took
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Since signing with the Falconers, he’s made the drive a hundred times. Forty minutes with no traffic. A straight shot from Providence to Samwell, and back again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Glacier

Since signing with the Falconers, he’s made the drive a hundred times. Forty minutes with no traffic. A straight shot from Providence to Samwell, and back again.

Currently the sky is dark, the road ahead illuminated with only the light posts that line the freeway. Bittle’s in the passenger seat, his nose buried in his phone, gently humming a song Jack doesn’t know the name of but recognizes anyway. 

The car is quiet otherwise and he smiles to himself, and thinks how peaceful this moment is. 

\- 

He’d rushed out of the locker room after practice, ignoring and avoiding his teammates chirps and questions as he’d texted Bittle he was leaving the rink. Determined to get as much time with Bittle as he could on this rare weekend off. He’d gotten to the Haus sometime after eleven, Bittle already coming down the front steps of the porch. “Is everyone else inside?” He asks, when Bittle opens the door and slides in, putting his bag at his feet.

“Yeah, they’re all sitting in the front watching your highlights.” He says with a faint smile. Jack looks at the Haus as Bittle adjusts himself. He can see the light from the tv flickering through the curtains of the front window. 

“My highlights?” Bittle laughs lightly and leans over the center console, kissing Jack chastely.

“Yeah, I think it’s because the feel as though they know you.” Jack pulls out onto the street with a smile on his face. 

Bitty laughs and it’s the best thing Jack’s ever heard. 

\- 

When he wakes up the first time, he can smell smoke before he even opens his eyes. Every fiber of his being is screaming in pain and he wishes he could have kept his eye shut. He wishes anything would have prevented him from opening his eyes. 

Bittle is still buckled into his seat but head is touching the roof in a puddle of red, and his whole body is hanging there unmoving. 

He can only look, his mind a muddled mess of thoughts and feeling he can’t yet begin to understand, a ringing in his ears becoming more worrisome since he’s unable to here himself screaming. He can feel that at least. He can feel the dry hoarse pain from his throat. He knows he’s screaming, maybe yelling for help. He tries to reach out to Bittle and manages to grab his hand. The ringing in his ears is subsiding and is starting to sound more like sirens in the distance. He can hear his screams, and before he passes out again, he can her his name on his lips. 

\- 

The second time he wakes up, he wishes he hadn’t. The room reminds him too much of his life before. Before Samwell, his friends, his team. Before Bitty. The faces on his parents tell him that he’ll never have any of that again. 

His mother grabs his hand, and through tears asks him if he’s okay, tells him it’s going to be alright, tells him she loves him. He finds it hard to believe those words. 

When he finally finds his voice he looks up at his dad. “His funeral?” He asks, but the look his mother gives him is enough to know that the last time he’ll ever see Eric’s face is when it’s lifeless and covered in blood. 

His parents stay in the room while his friends filter in and out of the room, until they all just decide to cram in. 

He’s told repeatedly that it wasn’t his fault. It was late and there was a drunk driver. He nods, trying to convince himself. 

He looks at Shitty who’s hands are gripping the foot of his bed, his knuckles white. Lardo is standing next to him with her hands deep in her pockets and her eyes cast to the ground, and Ransom and Holster are standing near the door. But Chowder is closest to him, standing where his mother was a few minutes ago before her and his father had left. He can feel the grief in the air, feel the pain and sorrow in himself and asks, “How long has it been?” Chowder looks up and Jack can see his eyes are rimmed red from crying, the pain in his chest only gets worse and he tells him it’s been a week. He thinks for a moment and hates himself when the first thing he thinks of is how many games and practices he’s missed. “I missed a game.” 

There’s a silence that stretches over only a few seconds before chowder leaves the room, visibly shaking. In a way, Jack knows what he’s said, the wrongness of what he’s said. But he can’t bring himself to care. “Jack…” Shitty sounds tried. They all look tired. Seeing it only makes Jack realize how tired he is. 

“I’m gonna sleep.” He tells them, and despite the looks of worry he receives, they leave without another word. 

Jack closes his eyes and tries to remember the crash. He can remember the sound of screeching metal, the momentary feeling of his body weightless but still strapped down with the seat belt. He can remember the way Bitty’s hair would glow in the morning sunrise. The feeling of every every limb so impossibly bruised, it’s hard to tell where one bruise ends and the other starts. He can remember the strike of fear he got when the Yale defense-men has hip-checked Bitty so hard that when he hit the ground, his helmet had come off. He feels the same fear when he remembers the blood on his face. 

When he wakes up again, the tv in the corner is on, and his dad is asleep in one of the visitor’s chairs. He cranes his neck, but his mom isn’t in the room. On the news they’re talking about a car crash. 

“One man was killed and another was injured Friday night after the car they were in was struck by a drunk driver who had swerved into their lane, authorities say. Richard Johnson, 29, has been arrested for investigation of drunken driving and fleeing the scene of the fatal accident, said Jessica Hartman, Providence police spokeswoman. 

He was treated for injuries and then booked into the Providence County Detention Facility. Formal charges are pending. A second man, who was a passenger in the suspect's car was also arrested after he and the driver fled the car. 

The man killed in the crash was identified Friday night by the Providence County Coroner's Office as Eric Bittle, a 20 year old student-.” The tv turns off and Jack looks over to his dad who’s looking at him concerned. Over the last few days, he’s realized how much he hates that look. 

“I’m fine.” He says. His dad looks about as sure as he feels. 

-  


It's only a day later, Jack is out of the hospital. Against doctor’s orders, he ushers his parents out of his apartment almost as soon as they arrive. 

Because of this he’s not surprised that five minutes later there’s a knock at his door. When he opens it Alexi is standing there with an attempt of a grin. As soon as he sees Jack though, any mask he was trying to put on for Jack’s sake fell and he gripped Jack's shoulders tightly, pulling him in for a hug. He doesn’t tell him it’s going to be okay, or that he’s happy he’s alive. He doesn’t say anything. For a few moments, Jack is honestly thankful.


End file.
